Duty
by Vietta
Summary: Tseng's POV. An in depth look at what happened during Tseng and Elena's capture in Advent Children. Please note- I haven't seen Advent Complete, so don't spam me because I mess up some information that was only released in Complete. For The Writers on dA


A subtle throb against the back of his ribs let him know he was alive, even if he wasn't sure he was supposed to be. He could still feel blood sliding down his chest, wet and hot. He kept his eyes closed; it was better if he didn't try to examine the damage until he was sure he could remember exactly what had happened. If he had his bearings, the wounds spilling blood over his face and chest wouldn't send him into shock when he finally found the courage to open his eyes. No, it wasn't exactly courage that he was looking for, not even strength; he was more interested in a reason to open his eyes than a way to open his eyes.

He pulled air into his lungs slowly; keeping the breaths shallow and even like an injured sleeper was wont to have. Tseng knew a thing or two about injured sleepers, having observed a few of them himself during his various Shinra given duties. He searched back through the blur of memories that would lead him to knowledge of where he was now and what condition he was in. He could remember gunshots, but that wasn't surprising; he couldn't attribute the hole in his shoulder to anything besides a bullet. The parallel slices across his forehead, however, were hard for him to explain to himself. Not many things made such clean cuts and in the blur of battle leaving two identical cuts in someone's face was hard to do. He tried to remember how he had gotten them, but that part was still blurry; and probably for good reason. Elena's screaming was blocking most of the memory out, and he had the sudden, horrid realization that he couldn't pick apart the screams slipping through his memory from the screams echoing in the room around him. How he had managed to ignore the screaming noises ringing in his hears for so long he had no idea, but he didn't have time to worry about that, not when Elena's blood curling screams sounded so fresh with pain and anguish.

Tseng's eyes shot open and he was on his feet in moments, blinking blood from his eyes as he dug into his jacket for one of the many weapons he always kept on his person. It was then that he realized his jacket was gone; all that he had accomplished by trying to reach into it was to move his injured arm and cause himself more bleeding and pain. He could feel wet hot blood coat his arm as he pushed it towards the pocket where his well worn and often used gun with its seldom wasted ammo usually rested, his thin fingers grasping only air as he felt for the pistol grip that wasn't there.

A hit to the chin broke into the seventeen seconds he had spent in a near trancelike state where his reflexes had been struggling to recover from the realization that his prized weapon was not where it was supposed to be and Tseng staggered, but he refused to fall, his feet slipping on a floor slicked with his own blood as he regained his balance and composure. He raised an arm to deflect the next bruising blow, teeth gritting against the pain that was making itself evident despite his attempts to force it back. The blood slipping down his face cut down his visibility, but he could see enough of the face of the large man rushing at him to remember the reason for why he was hearing Elena scream in his head and in the room. This man and two others had somehow appeared from nowhere while he and Elena had been searching the Northern Crater for signs of that horrid, wretched bit of Jenova that was rumored to remain there. They had found it, but Tseng had no idea what had happened to it after they found it except that the three men had appeared and a fight had ensued, during which he had passed the head to Elena and forced her to go back to Reno and the chopper.

However; if that was the case, then why was Elena lying on the floor, bleeding and sobbing as the thin man who had been focusing on her turned to help the larger man deal with the problem his being awake presented? He blocked another blow from the large man and delivered his own at the thin man who moved in to join the fight, feet fighting for grip on the floor as he tried to nimbly dodge the thinner man's countering blow. He managed not to let the thin man hit him, but the pain dodging the blow sent through his shoulder made him stagger and take the full force of the next blow the large man sent his way. He flew back, hitting the wall with a dull thud. He used the wall to support himself, wiping blood from his eyes with his forearm before they rushed him again. Now that he could see, it was much easier for him to slip out of the way, literally. He let his blood coated toes slide against the slick floor and dropped himself to the floor, narrowly avoiding a blow from the large man that punctured the wall above him. He rolled as the thinner man moved to stomp on his chest, taking evasive action as best as his injured self could.

The blood was in his eyes again and he frowned, wishing his forehead would just clot already. The large man was finally able to grab hold of him and lifted him by the back of his hair, ignoring his struggles. "Brother, are you okay?"

"Of course, Loz, why wouldn't I be?" The thinner man frowned; brushing blood slicked fingers across his front as if to dust himself off.

"It hit your face, Yazoo." Loz set Tseng on the floor again, keeping a hold on his hair as he struggled.

Tseng's thing fingers scrabbled as Loz's hand, trying to peel the thick fingers away from his head, not caring if he lost his hair or not. He would pull it out strand by thin black strand if it meant he would get away to help Elena. She was in worse shape than he remembered leaving her in, but main problem his mind was struggling to deal with. If Elena was here, which she obviously was; he could tell by the thin river of blood flowing from a puncture on the delicate skin of her forearm that didn't have quite enough blood to trail all the way down her arm yet that she was very horribly _here_; Tseng must have interrupted her injury in its making. It was too bad that he hadn't been able to interrupt the others; they looked more than a little painful. Elena had her eyes closed and was breathing deep and even, obviously trying to reign in her pain enough to continue suffering through what they had been putting her through before Tseng woke up.

Yazoo peeled off his gloves and slipped long, thin fingers through his shinning silver hair, letting it waterfall down his slender back. "It tried to mess up my hair, Loz. May I kick it?"

Loz nodded and clapped Tseng's wrists into bonds similar to Elena's, but of obviously sturdier quality. Tseng took note of their lack of concern for Elena's ability to escape with an internal nod, knowing that it could be an advantage to their plight if they continued to think Elena's femininity made her weak. "Of course, brother." Loz stood aside to allow Yazoo and his slender feet access to Tseng's tender ribcage.

Tseng raised an eyebrow with a small hiss, forgetting momentarily that his forehead was sliced nearly to ribbons. The wound had been clotting nicely, but his eyebrow raise broke the fresh scabs and blood began dripping down his face again. Yazoo dug his thick toed boot into the delicate flesh around Tseng's ribs, face impassive as he tried valiantly to wedge the toe of his boot between Tseng's rib bones. Tseng was hardly bothered by the blows that knocked air from his lungs; he was too busy being confused by the fact that someone who looked so like Sephiroth could be so effeminate. He had expected Yazoo to have more manly mannerisms and a far deeper voice. It made him chuckle softly under his breath, once he could catch a breath at least, that there was also someone in the world more persnickety about their hair than Reno.

Yazoo stood back once he thought he had kicked Tseng enough to avenge his slightly mussed hair. "So, Loz, do we give up on the girl and try to convince this one to tell us?"  
>"Tell you what?" Tseng looked up, resisting the urge to cock his brows again. He was spending far too much time being confused today and he valiantly wished that he could remember more of what had happened before he had blacked out. Perhaps Elena had been able to get the head to Reno before coming back to try and help him escape? As he turned his eyes towards her at the thought, he mentally berated her for doing something so stupid. Most people would call such an act noble and brave, but she knew better than to assume he'd think anything more of her if she saved him. He already thought the world of his Turks and they knew that. His pride in them could only stretch so far, however, because at this moment he wasn't feeling proud of a damned one of them, especially if the head wasn't safe.<p>

Yazoo kicked Tseng again, layering another bruise on top on the purple blotch that spanned his chest. "Quiet! We are talking!"

Loz smiled, obviously happy to be included in the word 'we'. "We can switch to him if you'd like, Yazoo, the little one needs time to recover or she'll be of no use to us at all."

Yazoo nodded and pulled his blood stained gloves back onto his pale hands. "True, if we don't give enough time between their beatings the pain won't feel as fresh and agonizing."

Tseng frowned, waiting for one of them to address his earlier question. If they were asking for anything related to Shinra, they were going to be laughed at harder than anyone had laughed at them before. Tseng didn't give out Shinra related information to anyone Shinra didn't pay and have a homing chip implanted in. Of course, there were one or two exceptions, Rufus and Dark Nation being exceptions one and two, but they were the only special cases where such lenience was allowed.

Yazoo bent down, putting his face slightly above Tseng's as he answered Tseng's question. "What did you do with mother?"

"That depends, what is your mother's name?" Tseng blinked blood from his eyes, wishing one of his captors would have the decency to allow him to wash it off.

Obviously the two didn't know how to interrogate properly, as there was no 'good cop bad cop' routine in place. Yazoo slammed his fist into Tseng's chest, his pretty face scrunched into a scowl. "You know damn good and well who she is!"

Tseng took as deep a breath as his bruised lungs would allow and chuckled into Yazoo's unearthly face. "I keep more than one mother hostage, what make's yours special enough for me to remember her without a name?"  
>"You bastard!" Loz took his turn at punching him, his scream childlike and angry. "How many other mother's did you take! How many!"<p>

Tseng answered between punches, wishing the man would at least allow him to gain enough air to answer. "I-I've lost c-count."

Yazoo pushed Loz back after he felt Loz had sufficiently broken more than one of Tseng's ribs. "Our mother is special and I know you remember her. Just tell us where she is and we'll let you and your pretty little friend go. If not, you get to stay here and rot until we're sick of keeping your corpse as wall art."

Tseng chuckled again, impressed by Yazoo's sick imagination. However, Yazoo was probably not aware that Tseng had made and carried out the same threat countless times before. "Perhaps if you wipe the blood off my face I'll be able to concentrate on remembering who she is instead of my stinging eyes."

Yazoo looked to Loz and nodded, stepping away from Tseng and pacing the room. Loz left the room through the only exit, a thin wooden door on the opposite side of the room, and gave Tseng exactly what he had wanted; a glimpse of their hideout. In the two seconds where the door lingered between open and closed Tseng took as detailed an account of the room outside as he could. He noted the dim, ethereal light emanating from a tall silver tree that stood outside a small round window. He noted also that there was another silver-haired man sitting in the room beyond theirs who was deeply lost in meditation, but commanded enough respect from Loz that the tall man tiptoed away from the door.

Tseng rested against the wall, grinning smugly. He felt an advantage with his newfound knowledge, even though he knew he had none. He knew they were somewhere in the Forgotten Capital, that there were three of the Sephiroth look a-likes, and neither of the two paying them the most attention was leader of the tiny troupe. But his most important chip of information lay in the fact that the head was not in their possession. That meant the Elena hadn't been as stupid as he had initially feared and had passed the head to Reno, who was now either on his way back to Rufus' side, or already there. The head of Jenova was safe, even if Tseng was not. The head gave Rufus a possible bargaining chip, even if it wasn't the best idea to hand it over to these mad men, and the small beeping sound he heard inside his ear let him know that someone had activated his homing device. Elena raised her head weakly and he nodded at her reassuringly, silently letting her know he had heard the chip start going off too. He hoped that the sound meant Reno or Rude were looking for him and Elena with intent to rescue them. He didn't want either of them to actually come, that would leave Rufus in danger, but he did have hopes that they would at least attempt to hire someone to save them. If not, he would find a way out for them on his own. Elena's bonds were hardly secured enough for her to be incapacitated and, even though his regrettably were, that meant a chance at escape for at least one of them. He just hoped that the men would eventually leave them unattended or in the presence of only one of them. He hoped for the first as the later would only be preferable if Loz was the one left behind. The large man seemed childishly persuadable and Tseng didn't doubt that he would be able to find escape with the big man watching.

It seemed that the beeping in his ear gave him enough confidence to think anything was possible despite the obvious hopelessness of their situation.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: This is a story requested by The Writers of deviant art. She wanted me to make a story giving better details about what happened when Tseng and Elena were captured by the remnants. This will be a multi-chapter story; hopefully it won't take as long for me to update this as it does for me to update everything else I write, but only time will tell. <strong>

**I can't wait until finals are over; it will be marvelous to have some kin of breathing time again.**

**I hope you like this Writers!**


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